The Reason Roundtable

Three years ago, the city of Seattle voted to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour in the name of human decency and basic fairness. Several cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have done the same thing. Critics argue that boosting wages by bureaucratic diktat leads to fewer hours and jobs for low-income and low-skilled workers.

Now what The Washington Post calls a "very credible" study from researchers at the University of Washington finds that the critics are right. The Post calls this bad news for liberals. But the real victims are low-skilled workers.

President Trump is rolling back some of his predecessor's Cuban policy reforms, potentially setting back important American relations with cigars and rum. In 2014 President Obama restored diplomatic relations with communist Cuba, re-opening the U.S. embassy on the island nation and lifting some travel and financial restrictions.

This month Trump announced he was "canceling the last administration's completely-one sided deal with Cuba." In reality Trump's policy is more bluster and cosmetic changes than an actual reversal, but it might signal a bigger crackdown in the future. The Cuban embargo has entirely failed to oust the island's baddies from power, and may have further entrenched them. In the latest Mostly Weekly, Andrew Heaton explores why sanctions against Cuba are a terrible idea for free people (or just people who enjoy eating cigars).

Hosted by Andrew Heaton.

Written by Sarah Rose Siskind with writing assistance from Andrew Heaton and David Fried.

Edited by Austin Bragg and Sarah Rose Siskind.

Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.

Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.

The GOP controls both houses of Congress and the White House. These bills don't just fail to repeal and replace Obamacare with real reform, they would extend its life for years to come. They represent not just a failure of nerve, but a failure of vision that would actually help deliver 21st century health care for us all.

Edited by Todd Krainin. Written by Nick Gillespie. Cameras by Jim Epstein.

Remy channels his inner Elizabeth Warren to vilify the other side.

Written and performed by Remy

Music mastered by Ben Karlstrom

Video by Meredith Bragg

Meet the developers behind Blockstack, who are using blockchain technology to reconfigure the web. It’ll make NSA mass data collection impossible.

"For the first time, a growing number of young people actually think freedom isn't a big deal," says sociologist Frank Furedi, who's an emeritus professor at the University of Kent and author of the new book, What Happened to the University: a sociological exploration of its infantilisation.

The university was once a place where students valued free speech and risk taking, but today "a very illiberal ethos has become institutionalized," says Furedi. "In many respects, it's easier to speak about controversial subjects outside the university...It's a historic role reversal."

Furedi sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to talk about the roots of this intellectual shift on campus—and how to fix it.

Edited by Mark McDaniel. Cameras by Jim Epstein and Kevin Alexander. Music by Bensound.

We live in perilous times when it comes to free speech, and the threats are coming from both the left and right. The president has threatened legal action against the media, and progressive activists have used violence to shut down campus speakers they don't like.

In The Los Angeles Times, former federal prosecutor Ken White has some sharp insights on how to fight back against the would-be censors by shredding the most-popular clichés used by people trying to make the rest of us shut the hell up.

If today's calls for suppressing speech teaches us anything, it's that we can never take the First Amendment for granted. Even if the Supreme Court is on our side, free expression will only continue to exists if we're brave enough to make it ourselves.

Produced by Todd Krainin. Camera by Jim Epstein.

Last week Washington, DC shut down as everyone and their dog fled to sports bars to watch James Comey's congressional testimony. The uncomfortable spectacle raised more questions than merely Russia's involvement in the 2016 election. The former FBI Director's retelling of his private dinner with the then-president elect had the timbre of an overbearing boss sexually harassing a subordinate. In fact, it had enough parallels with "Fifty Shades of Grey" that it's time to ask: if the government is screwing us, should we get to use safe words? What about affirmative consent for creeping regulation? Find out on the latest Mostly Weekly!

Hosted by Andrew Heaton

Written by Sarah Rose Siskind with writing assistance from Andrew Heaton and David Fried.

Edited by Austin Bragg and Sarah Rose Siskind.

Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.

Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.

When Rand Paul dropped out of the presidential race in February 2016, the self-described "libertarianish" senator from Kentucky vowed: "I will continue to fight for criminal justice reform, for privacy, and your Fourth Amendment rights. I will continue to champion due process over indefinite detention." On Thursday, amid the hullaballoo of former FBI director James Comey's dramatic testimony on Capitol Hill, Paul brought a handful of libertarian reporters inside his Senate office to discuss his recent work on these projects.

Emphasis in original. "You never know who could be in the White House," Paul explained Thursday. "Could someone be there that would actually take away all of our rights and begin arresting us for who we are, what we are, what we think, what we read? And so I consider this to be one of the most important pieces of legislation that we'll put forward."

Produced and edited by Todd Krainin. Cameras by Krainin and Mark McDaniel.

When the White House hosted a meeting of sheriffs from across the country last February, President Donald Trump joked about destroying the career of a Texas state senator who supported reforms to civil asset forfeiture laws—a controversial practice where police can seize cash and property of people suspected—but in most cases never convicted or charged with a crime.

Though Trump's comments were meant to support police, they've had the opposite of their intended impact—it's re-energized the push for reform.

Texas state senator Konni Burton was one of many local lawmakers outraged by Trump's comments. She's a tea party leader from the Dallas-Fort Worth area who also happens to be pro-life and pro-borders. Burton isn't the unnamed state senator Trump offered to destroy, but she's emerged as the state's fiercest opponent of civil asset forfeiture.

Produced by Alexis Garcia. Camera by Paul Detrick, Austin Bragg, and Meredith Bragg. Music by the Unicorn Heads.